Following is the official response released to the media by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“Israel regrets the one-sided wording of the EU Foreign Affairs Council conclusions. Facts and history both prove that Jewish settlement never constituted an obstacle to peace. Therefore, the EU’s focus on this issue is mistaken.
“The root cause of the absence of a peace accord is the Palestinian refusal to engage in direct negotiations and their unwillingness to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, as recently exemplified by Mahmoud Abbas’ UN speech and Khaled Meshal’s Gaza speech. This one-sided position taken by the EU rewards rejectionism and does not contribute to promoting a permanent peace agreement.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
anything they can do so as to keep their antisemitism alive and well they will do
Does this appear in English anywhere else. If you google an extract of some of the key words, it doesn’t seem to come up.
Is it somewhere on the Foreign Ministry’s website?
The EU position is actualy quite coherent.
Even if the root cause of the lack of peace is the Palestinians inability to negotiate, what benefit can be derived from building settlements? How can Israel claim to want peace with the Palestinians and be in favor of a two state solution and then populate that very area with settlements?
The plain reality is that there are millions of Palestinians living in Yehuda and Shomron. They will not just disappear. They have a higher birthrate then Jews and will soon become a majority in the land of Greater Israel. As a Democracy Israel cannot deny them the right to vote forever. If they can vote they will elect a Arab majority to the Knesset and Israel as a Jewish state will cease to exsist. If they are denied the right to vote then Israel as a Democratic state will cease to exsist.
The only plausible soultion is the two state solution. The two state solution entails the very hard act of giving up land of Eretz Yisrael. Building settlements impedes the possibilty of giving up land and hence the cause of possible peace. It is against the Da’as Torah of many Gedolei Yisrael including Rav Shach and is ultimatley against the best intrests of Israel as Jewish and Democratic state.
#3, You are certainly crazy. The plain reality is that they can easily disappear. Their numbers decreased dramatically through emigration, and their birth rate is shrinking while ours is rising. The estimates of their numbers constantly exaggerate precisely in order to frighten people into giving them a state. And why should they ever be allowed to vote in a country whose existence they oppose? If they don’t like it, let them leave.
There is only one da’as Torah, which is the da’as of the gemoroh, and every rishon through the Shulchon Oruch (OC 329), all of whom pasken that it is forbidden to allow a hostile armed force to take over an area that borders a country with a Jewish population, even if they proclaim that they have no intention of attacking. The halacha pesukah is that we may not trust such declarations, and must fight to prevent them from occupying any border area that would help them invade the country should they decide to do so. Any so-called “godol” who says otherwise is not a godol and does not have da’as torah.
Crazykenoiy you are in fact crazy as a 2 state solution is not the answer.
#4 and #5
There are over 2 million Arabs living in Yehuda and Shomron. There is no noticeable mass emigration to any other country, and yes the Arabs do have more children per women than Israelis do. This information is readily available and can be viewed online through the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
Rav Shach publicly opposed settlement construction. Rav Ovadia Yosef and the Moetzes of Shas instructed the Shas MKs to vote in favor of the Oslo accords. Many hold that the halacha of a “hostile force” does not apply when we originally took the land from them and does not apply if – and a big if – it can make peace.
Almost every former IDF Chief of Staff was or is in favor of a two state solution. Ehud Barak, Amnon Lipkin-Shachak, Shaul Mofaz and Yitzchak Rabin to name just a few. These are patriots who love and fought for their country yet they also recognize the sad reality.
Binyamin Netanyahu claims to favor a two state solution. Every Israeli government spokesperson claims that if only the Palestinians stopped their violence a two state solution would become a reality. However settlements are incompatible with a two state solution. The Israeli government cannot expect to have it both ways.